KWIP is partnering with the Innocence Project (IP) in New York in seeking justice for our client James Genrich. Mr. Genrich was wrongfully convicted nearly thirty years ago of setting three pipe bombs in Grand Junction, which killed two people and injured another. At trial, the prosecution and its expert witnesses claimed that Mr. Genrich’s generic wire cutters were the only wire cutters in the world that could have made a tiny mark – just 1/100th of an inch long – found on a piece of wire from one of the bombs.
In January 2022, KWIP, the IP, Rebekka Higgs, and the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Menges presented expert testimony at a four-day evidentiary hearing to show that the scientific community has repudiated this type of evidence – that one specific tool, to the exclusion of all others, left a particular mark found on suspect evidence. This type of opinion evidence is now recognized as scientifically unsound and unreliable, and it would not be allowed in a courtroom today.
On July 10, 2023, the Mesa County District Court vacated Mr. Genrich's conviction and ordered a new trial. The state has appealed that decision.
For more information about Mr. Genrich's case, check out this article from The Nation and another from Colorado Public Radio.